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Places and Prices: Budapest

Café culture: Where to eat, drink, sleep, and be merry on both sides of the Danube.

One of Budapest's greatest treasuresapart from its legendary cafésis the frequency, quality, and variety of its music. You can hear all kinds of concerts here, so be sure to visit gotohungary.com. to find out what's going on during your stay. And don't forget that Hungarian wines are the stuff of rhapsodies. Your hotel can give you the addresses of specialized shops and wine bars, and larger grocery stores sometimes stock surprisingly good table wines.

The country and city code for Budapest is 36-1. Prices quoted are for January 2011.

Lodging: Budapest has four famously grand hotels, all magnificent architectural treasures containing spas and pools. The most creative from a design perspectivein the Secession (Art Nouveau) style, with views of the Danube from the Pest sideis the Four Seasons Gresham Palace (see the 2011 Gold List), once the local headquarters of a London-based insurance firm (268-6000; doubles, $320-$710). Another building, also formerly devoted to insurance, is the vast New York Palace, on Erzsébet körút, off Blaha Lujza tér, which has a splendid covered inner court and a famous neo-Baroque café (886-6111; doubles, $181-$223). Still on the Pest side, the Corinthia Hotel Budapest, one of Europe's great hotels during the Belle Époque era, was shuttered during part of the Communist period. Redone to perfection several years ago, it has extraordinary neoclassical courts and an enticing pool (479-4000; doubles, $210-$308). The Danubius Hotel Gellért, at the foot of Gellért Hill, in Budawithin walking distance of the Central Market Hallis another great Secession treasure. Damaged during World War II, it has been carefully renovated and is best known for the famous Gellért Spa, to which guests have free access (889-5500; doubles, $187-$251). A more economical option is the Continental Hotel Zara, once a public bathcheck out the amazing Art Deco facade. Entirely redesigned in a simple, modern style, it reopened in June 2010 (815-1000; doubles, $110-$179).

Dining: Most restaurants in Budapest serve a fusion of traditional Hungarian and vaguely Continental (mostly Italian) fare. But on the assumption that you will want to sample Hungary's excellent cuisine, begin with Bock Bisztró, a very serious but completely unpretentious restaurant cum wine bar where they put herbed zsír (lard) on the table instead of butter and have lots of traditional dishes (Erzsébet körút 43-49; 321-0340; entrées, $17-$28). A tiny, more modestly priced place is Ráspi Budapest, diagonally across from the Church of St. Teresa. It highlights seasonal ingredients and pairs dishes with select local wines (Király utca 53; 789-9807; entrées, $14-$22). In the same Pest neighborhood, Menza, a popular restaurant and outdoor café on shady Liszt Ferenc Square, serves satisfying versions of classics like lángos, goulash, and fruit soup (Liszt Ferenc tér 2; 413-1482; entrées, $7-$21). Gundel, a huge and famous establishment revamped by the great Hungarian chef and culinary savant George Lang in 1992 to show what his people can do with food, is a classic place for dishes such as walnut-stuffed palacsinta (crêpes) with chocolate sauce (Állatkerti út 2; 468-4040; entrées, $16-$62). Náncsi Néni Vendéglõje, in the Buda hills (consider yourself forewarnedit's 20 minutes by cab from central Pest), is a beguiling, grandmotherly place with all the old-fashioned specialties you've ever dreamed ofparticularly in the charcuterieand many Hungarian wines by the glass (Ördögárok út 80; 398-7127; entrées, $9-$15). Popular with everyone, Fölemöle is probably Budapest's best-known Jewish restaurant, although Jewish cuisine is very close to old-style Hungarian heregoose essentially stands in for pork (Kõfaragó utca 5; 266-7947; entrées, $9-$25).

The city was once celebrated for its many cafés, most of which vanished under the Communists. A number of very old ones survive, including Gerbeaud Cukrászda, most notable for its 19th-century interior (Vörösmarty tér 7-8); Centrál Kávéház, with a spacious interior of literary renown (Károlyi Mihály utca 9); Ruszwurm Confectionery, a rather touristy but historic spot in the Castle District, in Buda, founded in 1827 (Szentháromság utca 7); and the New York Café Restaurant at the aforementioned New York Palace hotel. All of the preceding serve pastries. There are scores of other good cafés: A student crowd hangs out at the new and lively Castro Bisztró (Madách tér 3), and Daubner Cukrászda, one of many stellar patisseries, is in the Buda hills (Szépvölgyi út 50). Late night, a trendy crowd postures around the large outdoor courtyard at Ötkert (Zrínyi utca 4).

Reading: The indispensable guide is Carolyn Bánfalvi's Food Wine Budapest, with attractive photos by George Konkoly-Thege (Little Bookroom, $25). Budapest 1900, a masterpiece of English style by John Lukacs, the Hungarian-born historian, gives an interpretation of the city at the high point of its cultural influence that may prove very helpful to anyone hoping to understand the Budapest of today. It's available at the Alexandra bookshop on Andrássy Avenue (Grove Press, $17). Skylark, by Dezsõ Kosztolányi, a searching tale about a family problem that no one wants to talk about, might serve as an excellent introduction to the many classics of modern Hungarian literature (NYRB Classics, $15).